Stethoscopes are a tried and true medical device used in hospitals and medical facilities throughout the modern world for many decades. In many instances, the stethoscope is the first tool a physician or nurse uses to evaluate the general condition of a new patient. To an adult, the stethoscope is normally a non-threatening device and no detailed explanation is generally needed to coerce the patient to remove their shirt or blouse for an initial examination. Children, especially small children, may view the stethoscope in an entirely different mind set. For example, a small child just awakening from surgery in the recovery room, disoriented and already sensitive to the pre-surgery work up of blood draws and physicians poking and prodding them, may be initially and unnecessarily alarmed by the image of yet another health care professional coming at them with something to probe their body.
In a less extreme, but none the less possibly unnerving experience for a small child, the experience of being awoken in the middle of the night during normal hospital rounds, again somewhat disoriented in unfamiliar surroundings only to find a health care professional ready to probe them once again with a shiny metal object, should be undertaken with care and understanding.
Given the above, it would be desirable to have a stethoscope device whose physical appearance is engaging to a small child, almost to the point where it could be mistaken for a toy wherein the child reaches out for it instead of recoiling from it.